The seat of the Tibetan government-in-exile
is in McLeod Ganj (upper
Dharamsala), a picturesque town overlooking the Kangra
valley, below the snowy peaks of the Dhaula Dhar range in
the Indian Himalayas. At one end of the ridge in McLeod
Ganj is the locus of the Tibetan community, the
Tsuglagkhang complex, their
Potala Palace-in-exile, though this is a rather modest
affair by comparison. It contains the Dalai Lama's
residence, a monastery, temples, and stupas. For visitors
there's also a café, bookshop, and the Tibet museum.

Visitors are free to roam except to the
monks' residential quarters. The ambiance is warm and
collegial. Wistful sketches of the Potala Palace hang
beside paintings that depict scriptural stories and fierce
Tibetan deities. Most monks are refugees from Tibet
(rather than born in India) and speak only a smattering of
Hindi or English; their monastic education is entirely in
Tibetan. Each day they study philosophy, tantra, history,
geography, Tibetan, etc. (but not Hindi or English,
forcing an additional state of exile on the monks, some
mere kids drafted into the order). Few among the
Indian-born Tibetans—or Tibetan-Indians, depending on
how they see themselves—choose to become monks.

Student monks gather each day in the
courtyard and, in small groups, debate nuances of Buddhist
thought, even as other monks and pilgrims in the complex
indulge in the un-Buddha-like practice of mechanically
turning prayer wheels. The monks also perform Buddhist
rituals and learn the art of making
tormas (butter sculptures) and sand mandalas. As they approach
adulthood, monks are free to quit the order and join the
laity, as many do; a few proceed to get the monastic
equivalent of Ph.Ds; fewer still become rinpoches, or
precious teachers. The monks don't study science—surprising, given the Dalai Lama's own interest in and
openness to science, and the lack of an inherent conflict
between science and Buddhism—but then Buddhist
philosophy too is preoccupied with using a (different) set
of disciplined, rational techniques to understand the
nature of reality (I've discussed this topic further in
section 3 of
this essay).

When not traveling, the Dalai Lama gives
occasional public audiences. Over 140,000 Tibetans
(including those born after 1959, the start of the exile)
live in India as refugees, 80% of whom have not applied
for Indian citizenship, hoping one day to return to Tibet
and regain their theocratic state. Oddly enough, their
largest strength outside the Himalayan belt is
in Karnataka. Each year, about 3,000 refugees still
make perilous journeys across the Himalayas to come to
Dharamsala (a good recent documentary is Tibet: Cry of
the Snow Lion). Given the Dalai Lama's emphasis on
nonviolence, compassion for the adversary, and peaceful
negotiations, their hopes for Tibet rest entirely on a
more enlightened Chinese government coming to power in
their lifetimes. Meanwhile, smart money is not betting on
this outcome. [—May 05;
Comment?]